Entries in Huma Abedin
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Jonathan Ernst/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- For the second time in two days a top Republican has rejected claims by Rep. Michele Bachmann and four other Republicans that an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has ties to a radical Islamic organization.

House Speaker John Boehner said the suggestion by Bachmann, R-Minn., and the others was “pretty dangerous.”

Earlier this week Sen. John McCain called the insinuations “ugly” and “sinister.”

Last month, Bachmann, R-Minn., and four other House Republicans wrote a letter claiming that the family of Huma Abedin, a senior Clinton aide, has ties to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and questioned whether she is part of a conspiracy to harm the United States by influencing U.S. foreign policy with her high-level position at the State Department.

Boehner, R-Ohio, told a news conference today that he had not read the letter, but said, “I don’t know Huma, but from everything that I do know of her she has a sterling character. Accusations like this being thrown around are pretty dangerous.”

The letter was sent June 13 to Harold Geisel, the Deputy Inspector General at the Department of State, while similar copies exploring other ties to the Muslim Brotherhood were sent to the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The letter states, “The Department’s Deputy, Chief of Staff, Huma Abedin, has three family members – her late father, her mother and her brother – connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and/or organizations.”

It adds, “Her position affords her routine access to the Secretary and to policy making.”

The letter was signed by Bachmann, Trent Franks, R-Ariz., Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, Thomas Rooney, R-Fla., and Lynn Westmoreland, R-Ga., read. “Her position affords her routine access to the Secretary and to policy making.”

Asked whether he believes that Bachmann should lose her seat on the Intelligence Committee, Boehner said he did not believe that the issues were related. Bachmann contends that the intent of her letter has been distorted.

Abedin, who was born in Kalamazoo, Mich., is married to former Rep. Anthony Weiner, a New York Democrat who resigned after admitting he sent lewd pictures of himself to women from his House office.

McCain, R-Ariz., went on the Senate floor Wednesday to denounce the letter.

“These attacks have no logic, no basis, and no merit and they need to stop. They need to stop now,” McCain said.

Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call(WASHINGTON) -- Describing the accusations against her as “ugly” and “sinister,” Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., came to the defense of Huma Abedin, longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Last week five Republican members of the House of Representatives, including former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, made claims that Abedin’s family has ties to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and questioned whether she is part of a nefarious conspiracy to harm the United States by influencing U.S. foreign policy with her high-level position at the State Department.

“The Departments Deputy, Chief of Staff, Huma Abedin, has three family members – her late father, her mother and her brother – connected to Muslim Brotherhood operatives and /or organizations. Her position affords her routine access to the Secretary and to policy making,” according to the June 13th letter, signed by Reps. Bachmann, R-Minn., Trent Franks, R-Ariz., Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, Thomas Rooney, R-Fla., and Lynn Westmoreland, R-GA.

The letter was sent to Harold Geisel, the Deputy Inspector General at the Department of State, while similar copies were sent to the Departments of Homeland Security, Justice, Defense and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The lawmakers point to a report by the Center for Security Policy, a conservative think tank, which makes the allegations about Abedin’s family ties and calls on the Deputy Inspector General of the Department of State to begin an investigation into the possibility that Abedin and other American officials are using their influence to promote the cause of the Muslim Brotherhood within the U.S. government.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., took to the Senate floor today to rip apart his fellow Republicans’ accusations and came to the defense of Abedin, whom he calls a “fine and decent American,” after observing her work as both a long-time aide to Clinton while she was a Senator and as the Secretary of State.

“These sinister accusations rest solely on a few unspecified and unsubstantiated associations of members of Huma’s family, none of which have been shown to harm or threaten the United States in any way,” McCain said. “These attacks have no logic, no basis, and no merit and they need to stop. They need to stop now.”

McCain argued that there is no evidence to back up the claims by the House Republicans.

“To say that the accusations made in both documents are not substantiated by the evidence they offer is to be overly polite and diplomatic about it,” McCain said. “The letter in the report offer not one instance of an action, a decision or a public position that Huma has taken while at the State Department or as a member of then-Senator Clinton’s staff that would lend credence to the charge that she is promoting anti-American activities within our government.”

McCain said that no one, “not least a member of Congress,” should launch such a “degrading attack against fellow Americans on the basis of nothing more than fear of who they are an ignorance of that hey stand for.”

A statement issued after McCain’s speech by Bachmann suggested the letter was being taken out of context.

The controversy comes at a time when Abedin’s husband, disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner, may be trying to revamp and clean up his image. After being out of the public eye for over a year following an embarrassing sexting scandal which led to his resignation from Congress, rumors are swirling that Weiner may be planning a bid to succeed Michael Bloomberg as New York City’s mayor.

“It took a lot of work to get to where [we] are today, but I want people to know we’re a normal family,” Abedin told People magazine in an interview this week with her husband.

Mario Tama/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Hours after Rep. Anthony Weiner announced his resignation from the House, he was spotted grocery shopping in Long Island with his pregnant wife, Huma Abedin, according to the New York Post.

Another shopper told the Post that while Weiner "sang quietly along to a '50s doo-wop song blaring from the store's speakers," and despite the shocking event in her life, Abedlin "was all smiles. She didn't look upset or anything."

Weiner resigned from the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday amid a growing sexting scandal.

Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- As an increasing number of his fellow Democrats have been calling for his ouster, Rep. Anthony Weiner is dealing with the aftermath of his online sexting scandal, including news that an alleged nude photo of the Democratic congressman has hit the Internet.

Meanwhile, the public learned that Weiner's wife is three months pregnant with their first child.

The alleged nude image of Weiner emerged after conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart appeared on the Sirius XM program The Opie and Anthony Show, where he claimed on air that he had a nude picture of the congressman on his cellphone. Breitbart said that Weiner has sent the image to one of the women that he corresponded with online. An image of the picture was captured -- apparently without Breitbart's consent and knowledge -- by a camera in the Opie and Anthony studio, and quickly hit the Internet -- something the blogger subsequently said he was "mortified" to discover.

Weiner confessed Monday to lying about sending a photo of his crotch via Twitter to 21-year-old Seattle college student Gennette Cordova and five other women over the past three years. He also has admitted that he sent explicit photos over the Internet.

So far, the only confirmed photos that have emerged from the scandal of the 46-year-old congressman show him clothed or shirtless.

The website Gawker eventually posted the image from Breitbart's phone Wednesday. ABC News has not independently confirmed that the photo in question is of Rep. Weiner.

Reports also emerged on Wednesday that Weiner's wife of 11 months, Huma Abedin, is in the early stages of her first pregnancy.

Though Abedin, 35, is reportedly devastated by her husband's admission of risque online chats and photo swaps with other women, she's reportedly told friends she is still committed to the marriage and wants to help Weiner salvage his political career.

Friends say that Abedin, who is a top aide to Hillary Clinton, did know that Weiner had a "problem" before their marriage, but he promised he was past that.﻿

Dimitrios Kambouris/VF11/WireImage(NEW YORK) -- Confessions from New York Rep. Anthony Weiner that he lied about sexting photos to a Seattle woman and at least five others over the past three years have shaken his barely 11-month marriage to Huma Abedin.

Abedin is a longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The 34-year-old has endured humiliating headlines in The New York Post -- "ballooning scandal," "Hide the Weiner" and "What a Weenie" -- after word got out that a 21-year-old Gennette Cordova had received the now-infamous photo of a man's crotch from the congressman's Twitter account.

In a tear-stained, half-hour press conference Monday, the Democratic congressman said his wife would stand by him, despite the week-old scandal dubbed "Weinergate."

"We have no intention of splitting over this," said Weiner, 46, who will not resign. "We will weather this. I love her. She loves me."

He said that he had told his wife about contact with women before their marriage, but not about recent ventures online, including one with single mom Meagan Broussard. Weiner said he has never met these women in person and has not had sex outside marriage.

Abedin only learned the truth Monday and didn't show up for the press conference.

The couple -- with some irony noted by pundits -- was married last July by former President Bill Clinton, who was himself impeached by the House of Representatives in 1998 over an affair with Monica Lewinsky. When he officiated at the Long Island ceremony, Bill Clinton reportedly toasted Abedin, saying she was like a daughter to him.

Hillary Clinton weathered the same public humiliation when her husband was unfaithful with a White House intern, yet chose to stand by her man.